


The Fraldarius Boy and the Magic Singer

by 003D



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22234573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/003D/pseuds/003D
Summary: The first thing people notice when they see Felix is his cold distant nature; for Annette, it's her bright determined energy. What lead to Annette being the only Blue Lions student that Felix was not mean too? What was it that made Annette grow comfortable around the swordsman? And, in the end, how will Annette deal with his cold distant attitude? How will Felix help Annette learn to let go of her lonely past and move towards a loving supportive future? How will they, in the end, support each other?
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

Felix didn’t want to admit it, being an intimidating man of great strength and minimal compassion, but he was still capable of feeling flustered. Under very specific instances, believe it or not, the almighty Felix, blood rushing to his cheeks, chuckles leaving his mouth, and smiles forming on his face, only found two specific things in this world cute: cats, and Annette. He was struck by this realization after catching her singing in the green house, and days later begging Felix to forget about her singing and dancing. He simply couldn’t, however. Her little feet moving over each other, her smile, how her sunshine-positive energy gave the plants themselves energy and life. Felix himself didn’t understand why he was so curious and encapsulated with her. As of late, the only thing he’s been thinking about, when he isn’t training, was Annette and her singing. Another thing he’s noticed is how his eyes tend to move towards Annette… or so he originally thought.

Really, Annette is naturally a positive and social girl. In the words of Sylvain, “Annette, even Felix likes you. What the hell?!” Dimitri is often talking to Annette about past memories, Mercedes about sweets and baking and the other students, Ingrid with teaching her makeup, and so on. Because of this, it wouldn’t be a surprise that everyone would gather and talk with one another: laughing at each other’s jokes, ridiculing Sylvain, and comfortably poking fun at Dimitri when everyone feels comfortable doing so. It wasn’t just Annette that Felix liked, but everyone else. 

Sadly unlike Annette, he’d been doing a lot of staring instead of actually spending time with his friends. He didn't want to admit it, but during this time, he was lonely. Nobody wanted to talk about it, but the Tragedy of Duscur has ultimately affected most of everyone in the Blue Lions, and this trauma had changed everyone and their relationship, in a way, for the worst. Felix never felt comfortable with his friends ever since the tragedy. He found it difficult to casually spend time with his friends anymore. His naturally stubborn personality can’t help but cause Felix to get angry at, well, his life and everyone. He lost his best friend Dimitri, who he fears more than anything turned into a murderous boar monster, and Ingrid fails to take care of herself, to actually live her life free from her parent’s wishes without her feeling guilty - don’t get them started on Glenn. The only exception is Sylvain, since he honestly acts the same compared to before, but the boy just recently saw his bully of a brother die right in front of him. He can tell how his complex towards crests still scars and traumatizes him to this day. What was Felix supposed to do with this information? Help them? Let them vent? Listen to their problems? Be a good friend? Please, Felix doesn’t even know how to take care of himself.

The only chance of forming another friendship anymore was if Felix spoke with someone not from his past. That left out about half of the Blue Lions in the picture. Well, Felix couldn't help but feel angry when talking to Dedue, even though the two weren't close by any means. His frustration towards the retainer built up the more he looked at that retainer, not having the courage or will to speak up against the prince, failing to see the inner demon that lies dormant within him - Felix couldn’t stand anyone praising that false prince. For Ashe, Felix couldn’t bear another minute of the boy speaking about his idea of knighthood and his dream of serving the king - seriously, why does everyone love that boar? - and then there’s Mercedes… he already screwed that up. Mercedes, possibly one of the kindest souls in all of Fodlan, was obviously opening herself up to Felix about her little brother - showing that she still bears the scars of them being separated, missing him deeply - and what does the swordsman do? He tells her to go away. The only blue lions left to comfortably befriend Felix at this point was Annette... and he possibly screwed that one up as well.

...

  
“Wait, Felix said what?!” Annette yelled. She was outside of the dining hall talking to Mercedes. The singer noticed her friend upset and alone, walking through the monastery alone.  
“Hush Annie! It’s not his fault. I was the one bothering him,” Mercedes said in a strong whisper. The last thing she’d want is to start a scene in the middle of the dining hall. The tense unwanted attention from the student’s eyes would be unbearable with how depressed and concerned Mercedes was feeling then.  
“Do you want me to talk to him?” asked Annette,  
“Oh, you don’t have to Annie.”  
“But, Mercie-”  
“I’m sure I will feel better by tomorrow. It’s my fault that what he said is still bothering me.”  
“Mercie, you talk like this happened years ago. This happened just the other day,” Annette quickly put on a fake stern face to mockingly mimic Felix, “Can’t you find someone else to bother?” She said with a deep voice. Mercedes laughed quietly at her impression.  
“Haha, please Annie, that is rude to Felix!”  
“Oh, so Felix can be mean to you, but I can’t call him out on it?” Annie said seriously. Mercie’s smile disappeared as she pondered on her best friend’s comment. The little girl obviously saw the healer struggle to come up with an excuse to brush off Felix’s comment. An idea for a response then flashed across the woman’s eyes.  
“Annie, you know I’ve gone through much worse in my life than a few rude words. It was my accident projecting my brother onto Felix. I simply don't have to make that same mistake again, and then both parties will end up happy, yes?”  
Annie was admittedly a bit annoyed at Mercie’s sound argument. It’s just… the lack of justice against Felix’s harsh attitude. The girl was trying to find another reason to confront the swordsman. Mercedes patiently waited for a rebuttal… and nothing was said.  
“I’ll be find Annie, don’t worry about me.” Even with this assurance, Annette still looked concerned. “Oh dear, it seems that something is still bothering you.”  
“Well, of course! Felix hurt you!” Annette said, as if trying to convince herself of the severity of the situation.  
“Annie, I already told you, I’ll be fine. If it makes you feel better, having my best friend talk to me and care about me so much is already making me feel better!” Mercedes reassured Annie. Again, Annette looked as if she’s struggling to find an excuse to confront Felix about this… to talk to Felix at all. She continued to look down at her feet, lost in concerned thought.  
“... Annie, I have an idea,” this had Annette look up at Mercedes caring, soft eyes, “how about you wait until tomorrow, and see if you think it’s still necessary to talk to Felix about this.”  
“Why wait until tomorrow?” Annette usually energetic and perky voice was starting to emit life again. This relieved Mercedes, knowing that her best friend won’t be losing sleep over worry about her.  
“I want you to wait until tomorrow to see if you still find yourself upset over the situation. If you feel the problem still requires you to confront Felix, then by all means talk to Felix tomorrow. If you do end up speaking with him, I'd rather you do it after a day of thinking and calming down, and not now in the heat of the moment.” Annie looked a bit disappointed and troubled, as if she was secretly hoping to find a reason to talk to Felix. The swordsman was a naturally mysterious boy, with how stern and emotionally closed off he was. His harsh words sliced through anyone’s throat when he was serious about something. His dry speech mannerisms made it so that he had no filter. Many couldn’t help but wonder what made him this way, and why he acted so cold to everyone, no matter what scenario. Since the green house incident, and Annette speaking to him in his dorm, she was secretly flattered that this was the kindest and least harsh she’d seen him. Even though Annette told Felix that he was a “meanie”, it was simply a case of her being childishly embarrassed and panicking a bit. However, it surprised Annette how Felix didn’t chastise her for it, and her singing even sparked conversation between the both of them. She found it cute that this serious, cold, admittedly handsome teen boy was entranced by her silly little songs. For a while, ever since their conversation, Annette had wondered what made it that Felix was nice to her, but mean to everyone else.  
“Ok, Mercie. You win. I’ll wait to see if it’s still ok to talk to Felix about this.”  
“Good, I’m glad that you’ve calmed down and thought this through. I’m going to my dorm now to do some work, but know that you helped and made me feel a lot better today. Thank you, Annie!”  
“Anytime, Mercie! You’re my best friend.”  
“You too, Annie.” Mercedes began to walk away from the dining hall, while looking back at Annette still smiling. The baker waved at the little girl, and the singer waved back, smiling. When Mercedes was out of sight, Annie put her hand down as her smile disappeared. She let out a big sigh.  
“Oh, Mercie, Felix…” Annette said under her breathe.

_Felix, why would you say such a mean thing to Mercie? I thought you were better than that. After that talk we had about my songs and dances, and how you didn’t make fun of me, and made me feel accepted, I thought you were a nice guy. I thought you would finally start to act more kind to the other blue lions. I thought you would start to… care. Why... why me?  
_


	2. The Storm Passes Over: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix is overcome with thoughts of his friends and Annette, and Annette finally gathers the courage to confront the boy. What could go wrong?

It was a cool autumn day at the Garreg Mach marketplace. The steel weapons and iron works at the blacksmith shop made the chill air feel almost like cool steel itself. Business people and couples walking around, buying fresh fruits, knights hiring battalions for their upcoming mission, people arguing with Anna about her products, failing to haggle her, the typical morning for the marketplace.

Felix was walking through the market crowd, irritated at the hectic morning, and how routine this was. 

_Gods, I just want my weapon repaired. Why in the hell do I need to endure this?_

After much patience and and pushing, Felix finally squeezes himself to the blacksmith.

“Good mornin’ Felix!” The buff woman greets him.

“Good morning,” Felix says most likely out of obligated manners. However, to Felix’s credit, he doesn’t mind the lady as much as most people. She is physically strong, kind, not annoying, and will talk for you when you were too lazy for conversation - great for Felix.

“You want me to upgrade that sword of yours, or want me to check out a new artifact you found?”

“Huh, you remember that I like collecting them?”

“Of course! I’m much of a weapon artifact enthusiast myself. I respect a man with good taste.” The blacksmith laughs at her comment, knowing all too well of her flirting with the boy. Felix gives a tired and bothered grunt to her, but couldn’t help but still blush at the lady. Suddenly, an image of Annette flashes into Felix's mind. It was probably the lady flirting with him that reminded the swordsman of the singer. He doesn’t know why though, since Annette wasn’t interested in the boy - according to him at least.

“Aw, the Fraldarius swords-boy himself is blushing red, haha!”

“Sh-shut up!” Felix yells out, his voice heard by most everyone around him, many heads turning towards him.

_Shit shit shit._

The blacksmith notices this embarrassing moment, and chuckles to herself. 

“Haha, teaches you to not speak to me that way, boy.” An image of Annette pops into Felix’s head again.

_Felix! Could you help me clean the library, please?_

“Shut-… q-quiet, please…” Felix says, struggling to remain calm and respect the lady. 

_Why the fuck would I think about the library and her out of all things?_

“You’re alright, kiddo. So, what do you need?” 

“C-can you fix this broken sword?” Felix clenches his fist and puffs up his shoulders real tight.

“Of course! Can I see it?” Felix reaches behind him to grab his broken sword. He relaxes a bit feeling the handle of his trusty weapon, and extends his arm to show the lady the beauty.

“Hm, this will be easy to fix. Come back tomorrow and she’ll be ready for you!”

“Got it,” Felix responds. The blacksmith continues to examine the sword, and gives a confused look, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t mean to be nosey, boy, but you got this sword from me not that long ago. It was rather expensive as well. Why so soon with the fix-me-up? Extra tough mission recently?” the lady asks.

_It wasn’t tough for me, but it was for her,_ Felix thought. There was a recent mission ordered by the Professor for their class. The assignment itself was simple: defeat the bandits blocking the path to the forest. Obviously, Dimitri, Dedue and the professor handled themselves well. Mercedes played her role as healer, with Ingrid protecting her, and Sylvain and Ashe were fighting together. The only people left were Felix and Annette. One was a master swordsman who spent most of his life practicing the blade, with his skills sharp and both his heart and defense tough as stone; the other one was a girl who would get distracted and trip over her own feet, and still struggling to master reason magic. It was a long time of the boy protecting the singer from both the bandits and her own nerves - unrewarded overtime.

“It was nothing. Just another tough mission,” replies Felix.

“Well, glad to see you came back alright. You’re one of Garreg Mach’s strongest, you know! But uh, don’t tell anyone I said that,” the blacksmith whispers while giving him a wink.

“Hmph, I don’t care about that. I just need to get stronger,” Felix looks away to prevent the lady from seeing his smirk.

“Glad to see you so determined, Fraldarius boy, but that attitude isn’t going to get you any further in becoming a warrior,” the blacksmith was speaking less on playful banter now, and more on genuine concern for the swordsman. She’s met many different types of fighters, from knights coming all the way from the Empire, to the old man living down the road of the monastery; they would go to her for help, with many not returning the next day. She’s seen them all, with many different types of strengths and weaknesses- on the battlefield and in character. It’s gotten to the point where she could almost guess who would survive their mission, and those who wouldn’t be so lucky. Felix was no different. “Know who’s got your back, boy.”

“I will ask that you quit calling me boy,” Felix orders the woman, slowly regaining his usual composure and attitude. The blacksmith sees this and gives a small sigh.

“Alright then, good luck out there, ok? Come back tomorrow and I’ll have her ready for you by then,” she says, lifting up the broken sword for him to see again.

“Thank you. Have a nice day,” Felix responds. The lady smiles back, and responds appropriately. As Felix walks out of the blacksmith’s shop, and out of the market, he heads to the training grounds.

“Hm,” the blacksmith looks down at the sword, and notices wear and tear on the weapon from attacks she knew Felix would never fall for. She also notices how Felix was spacing out a bunch in their conversations, and a wound on his arm that looked like he was still recovering from, “I wonder what happened out there. Was he protecting someone? I wonder…” 

…

Minutes later, Felix finally arrives at the training grounds. He takes up a training dummy luckily still open for use, and takes out his training sword from his waist. He firmly grasps the handle of the wooden weapon, and slowly swings it infront of him with a half-circle motion. He brings it down while taking a deep breath through his nose, and points his sword at the dummy. He slowly breathes out through his mouth, shuts his eyes, and breathes back in through his nose. He carefully raises his sword above his head level, quickly opening his eyes, and letting out a yell while quickly striking down at the defenseless dummy.

“Hyah!” He cries out.

_Felix, run!_

Felix lets out a confused grunt under his breath while feeling a hot string of pain across his arm. He surprisingly misses the dummy.

_What in blazes is wrong with me today?_

Felix swings his sword in the air out of anger, and instinctively touches his aching arm. He lets out a quiet cry of pain, while slowly tending the bruise. He dissociates a bit while staring off at the dummy - receiving many awkward stares from folks passing by him. For the next half hour, Felix mindlessly swung his sword to the dummy without much tact or technique - simply needed an activity to keep his mind off of… whatever the hell was bothering him. With each attack, Felix was expending more and more energy necessary to swing at a goddamn dummy.

_Conserve your energy, Felix. God damn it-_

“What the hell is wrong with me today?!” Felix mumbles out, strongly slicing down at the poor victim - possibly it was the anger-fueled adrenaline, but Felix’s crest didn’t treat the dummy or his sword well. Felix laid standing there, foot in front of him, breathing loudly through his dry mouth, shoulders tensing every second with his hands holding the broken-in-half sword - everyone was staring. Felix could hear murmurs of people talking across the training hall.

“What’s wrong with him today?”

“Is he alright?”

“Did he break his friggin’ sword in half?”

“Are you ok, Felix?”

The swordsman just stood there, trying to calm down his breathing, pulling his mind back to reality. He brings down his arms, and closes his eyes.

“Felix?”

The boy takes in a deep breath through his nose.

_Just calm down, Felix. Just let whatever is bothering you… not bother you. It’s that simple._

“Felix, are you ok?”

_Whatever those people are saying about you right now doesn’t matter. You are you. You are Felix Hugo Fraldarius, not the petty words of the ignorant._

“Felix, are you listening to me?”

_And let whoever the hell is interrupting you now know that they’re being bothersome and need to go away._

Felix finally opens their eyes, lets out an annoyed sigh and turns around. He prepares a storm-like gaze to scare off whoever was bothering him. The swordsman was in no good mood at all to deal with anything or anyone. He could feel his anger strengthening the storm and his patience weighing thin in his conscience. Felix really didn’t want to talk to anyone now, or today - or tomorrow, or the next day, really. He was ready to yell at the annoyance to go away, even if it cost them a few tears. The boy could feel the fire and lightning in him ready to call them out.

“Can you get the hell away from me-” and at that moment, Felix could feel those rain clouds dissolve away, “A-Annette…” he says with shocked eyes.

“I’m sorry, did you want to be left alone?”

_Yes._

“W-what do you want, Annette?”

_“_ I just wanted to talk to you, if that’s ok.”

_It isn’t._

“...make it quick.”

“Thanks! This will be quick, I promise.”

_God damnit…_

Annette then starts to feel embarrassed and looks away, “Oh, you said to make it quick, so me repeating that it will be quick was a bit redundant. I mean, I guess it made sense I said it, you know, to assure you that it will be quick-”

Felix interrupts the singer, “Annette, I’m busy. What is it?”

Her eyes widen, “Oh, I’m sorry- oh. Um, could we talk somewhere more… private?” Annette eyeballs the crowd around the two, pointing out how people are still whispering and making comments about him.

“... sure. Lead the way,” responds Felix. Annie gives a quick nod and a smile, relieved that the hardest part of this conversation was out of the way. She turns around and walks out of the training hall; Felix follows suit. Before he leaves the room, however, the last thing he hears from the public murmurs: “Does she have a crush on him or something?” A drop of sweat falls down the swordsman’s face. The young Fraldarius boy begins to immediately regret his agreement with the young Dominic girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter! Be sure to comment if you have any questions or notice a dummy mistake I made with my writing. I'm super excited for the next chapter, since I'm a sucker for edgy stuff (I know, I'm trash) and I aim for it to get edgy. See ya next time!


	3. The Storm Passes Over: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annette finally confronts Felix. About what, you may ask? I mean, have you met him. He's Felix. What mean thing hasn't he done?

Annette continues to look forward, guiding Felix through the dorms, passing the dining hall, and to the gazebo. During this time, Felix himself was pondering on what the curious girl would want with the boy. He could feel his chest tighten, the cold steel air chipping it’s way into Felix’s lungs.

_ Why am I getting so nervous? Why does Annette even want to talk to me? _

__ His injured arm starts to ache again, feeling as if the pain was boiling the bruise. Felix lifts up his sleeve to allow the injury to breath. The chilly air did well cooling it down of sorts. He finally regains his focus again to look in front of him. He notices how Annette too was uncomfortable, almost dissociating while looking down at the ground, worried. The boy couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with her. To distract himself from worrying, he looks at his arm, then at the plants around him, then to the giggling students he passes, then back at his arm.

_ I am really out of it, aren’t I… _

It’s not until Annette calls out to him that he finally grounds himself mentally, and sees that Annette is sitting at one of the small tables at the Gazebo.

“Um, would you like to sit down?” The girl asks. It isn't until Annette asks again seconds later that Felix truly snaps out of his internal distraction.

“Felix, are you listening to me? You are really out of it today.”

“Oh, um. Sorry,” says Felix.

_ An apology? From Felix?  _ Thought Annette. Felix finally walks back to Annette and sits down at the open chair in front of them. He stays there, almost staring at Annette, pondering on what this magic girl could possibly want with him. His piercing gaze, his judgemental attitude, assessing the situation and what could be the reason for this.

_ Heh, just like tea time with the professor. _

Annette finally gathers the courage to break the silence.

“First, I would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me,” Annette’s overly formal greeting waves a flag, admitting to how nervous she is, “Um… I brought you some of these!” Annette, happy to remember this, quickly rummages through her bag and takes out something wrapped in a cloth, “Here!”

“What are they?” asks Felix.

“Cookies! Oh, but don’t worry! These are not super sweet or anything. Just, well, fruity while still having the greatness of eating a dessert,” assures Annette, almost sounding prideful of sorts. While saying this, she places the cloth on the table, and unfolds it to reveal, low and behold, cookies! Not just any cookies, mind you: strawberry, lemon, raspberry, blueberry, apple (yes apple) cookies. 

“... thanks,” says Felix. Too surprised and confused to deny the gift, he accepts the cookies - he simply wanted to get this horrifically awkward and tense conversation over with. He looks at the cookies, and decides to eat one of the strawberry ones. He takes a bite out of one of them, and they taste genuinely like strawberries. Even though it was a sweet dessert, it wasn’t so sweet that he disliked it. Just as Annette said, it has the fresh sweetness of eating real fruit instead of the fake sweet taste you’d get from eating candy. It isn’t until he eats his second cookie that he realizes Annette staring at him, waiting for his response.

“... they’re good,” compliments Felix. Annette gives a sigh of relief, glad that this relieved the awkward atmosphere even a tiny bit.

“Oh, thank you!” Annette says

“So,” Felix pops another cookie in his mouth, “... what do you need me for?” Annette, again, felt relieved that the delicious cookies helped ease Felix from looking so tense and serious - there was something about his cold demeanor and him innocently eating cookies that made the situation charming and cute even. This helped her feel comfortable as well.

_ Where do I begin… _ thought Annette. First, there was that Mercedes situation that she wanted to confront Felix about. Then, there’s the incident of Felix saving her on their last mission. Annette didn’t know how to go about this situation. I mean, with both events in mind, it’s as if two different people were at fault. How could someone so mean to Mercie also selflessly protect her on the battlefield, sustaining an injury?

“Annette? You’re zoning out again. What’s wrong?” Annette looks up, surprised with how much she was getting distracted.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replies.

“This is how you almost got killed in our last mission. I had to save your ass, remember?”

“Y-yes… sorry about that.” Annette says, giving a genuinely pained and guilty look on her face. Felix sees this, and feels guilty himself for chastising the girl. 

“... I don’t want to see you get hurt.” This remark gave Annette an emotional whiplash. First, she talks to him about singing and dancing. Then, her best friend vents to her about how this same man was mean to her. The next day, he risks his life and sustains an injury protecting the singer. Now, in less than 10 minutes, Felix managed to accept cookies from her, then criticizes her, then states how he doesn’t want to see her get killed… was she talking to the same person? This mystery was honestly driving her insane.

“Ugh, Felix, why are you like this?” At this moment, Annette quickly widens her eyes, knowing that she said this thought out loud - rude, insensitive, impulsive, unnecessary, and blunt. 

_ Annette… why are YOU like this?!  _ The singer thought to herself, not saying it out loud this time. Luckily, Felix wasn’t one to act so sensitive to such comments - you have no idea the amount of times Felix was scolded by his father. He couldn’t help but get a bit defensive and offended, however.

“Why are YOU being rude right now and wasting my time?” Felix asks.

_ Oh, that is it.  _ Thought Annette.

“Felix, why me?”

“What?” asks Felix , surprised.

“A few days ago, I talked with Mercie-”

“Mercie?”

“Um, Mercedes, about the conversation you two had.”

“... conversation?”

“... yes. Conversation. You know, the one that hurt her feelings and left her alone and upset?” Annette leans in, stressing each word to get the point across.

_ Felix, you hurt my goddamn best friend. I swear to the goddess… _

“... oh! Yeah, um…” Felix fumbles over his words at this point, trying to save his skin.

_ Felix, why are you getting nervous? Just tell her that what happened is none of her business. _

__ “Annette, let me ask you a question. What did I specifically do that hurt her… ‘feelings’?” The hesitation of saying “feelings” almost pisses Annette off, to the point of her yelling back at him for his lack of tact.

_ Annie, remember to calm down, and think.  _ It’s as if Mercie was speaking to Annette through her head. The girl takes a deep breath to steady her nerves, and closes her eyes. After a few seconds of peace, she opens them, and looks down at the table. She takes a cookie, and a bite of the raspberry jam-filled treat.

_ Ok… now I’m ready. _

“Felix, why were you so mean to my best friend Mercedes the other day?” Annette now gives a stern glare to him, perfectly grounded, and determined on getting answers from him. The swordsman gives a confused blink, and shakes his head, as if waking up from a daydream.

“I-I’m sorry. What?” Annette gives a sigh.

“Ok, let me explain. This is through Mercie’s perspective, so, tell me if I’m wrong.”

“Ok?” Felix responds, suspicious of what she was going to say. To be blunt, the swordsman did not see the need for this conversation. In his eyes, no one was injured. In Annette’s eyes, this boy hurt the feelings of her best friend, after the healer tried to open up to him about her past.

“Did she say that you reminded her of her little brother? Did she give you tea and weirdly act like a mother to you?” Felix takes a second to process her question.

“... yes.”

“And how did you respond?”

“... by telling her to leave me alone.”

“Ok, before I say anything else, I have one last question. Was she actually bothering you that much?”

Felix rolls his eyes at the ridiculous questions. “Hm, I don’t know Annette. Maybe you should get into a conversation with someone you barely know, and have them project their lost probably dead sibling onto you-”

“FELIX!” Annette yells out loud, moving the table a bit. A bunch of crumbs from the cookies went flying in the air from the sudden reaction.

“W-what?!” Felix leans back from his seat, trying to gain some distance from the girl. He wasn’t sure whether he was scared, angry, confused, or all of the above.

“What is wrong with you?! You can’t just talk about someone like that!”

“Ok, I think you’re exaggerating the story a bit.”

“I don’t care! Mercie was obviously trying to help and connect with you! I know it must have felt awkward to be in that situation, but there were literally better ways to handle it back then, and you chose one of the worst possible solutions. What do you have to say about that?” A chilly breeze of wind blows a path through the teens’ faces, bringing a few dead leaves with them, as if anticipating the end to this argument. Felix just sits there, shaking a bit from the tense atmosphere. Annette glares down at the boy, waiting for a good reason for why he hurt her friend. Felix honestly didn’t know how to respond, though. He’s never been in a situation where he cared about offending or upsetting others. He himself lived his life by putting up wall after wall so that nobody could hurt him- figuratively speaking. He was rarely hurt by the mean words of others, so why should he care whether his words hurt them instead? He typically dealt with rude people by getting angry, or shrugging them off - being annoyed also comes with the territory. He’s only ever been trained to be physically strong and skilled with the blade, not to cry over the mean words of a stranger… but Mercedes wasn’t a stranger. Neither was Annette. Annette was probably the only person who was kind enough to speak with him. One where he felt comfortable being kind back to.

_ I… I hurt Mercedes’ “feelings”. Mercedes, Annette’s best friend... _

__ “How do I feel about it…” Felix takes a second to calm his nerves, and gives a nervous gulp, “we don’t know … whether her brother’s actually dead or not, so … technically, I’m not wrong?”

...

_ Felix… what the actual fuck is wrong with you? Annette, just kill me. I deserve it. _

__ The swordsman gives out a scared, nervous look, trying to form a fake smile, while his eyes scream caution. He continues to lean away from the table, gaining distance between him and Annette, him and the aggressor. He’s expecting that she start screaming, yelling, flipping the table over, casting all spells known to man on him - Annette HAS been studying with Lysithea, who knows what new skills she’s picked up from that sugar-addict child. He finally decides to look up at Annette, and to take his verbal and or physical punishment head on. 

Instead… she just starts crying. Her surprised expression doesn’t change, however. The only difference is her shaking with frustration and sorrow, while streaks of thick tears run down the side of her soft face. All she did was stare at Felix in disbelief, unable to understand the anomaly that is Felix’s thought process.

“Annette?” Felix asks.

_ No, you have no right to ask if she’s ok. You’re an asshole and you just need to leave. _

“Annette, I…” the singer sits down - the emotional whiplash and frustration during these past 10 minutes take their toll. She wipes her tears with her sleeve, and looks down at the cookies. Only a few left.

_ Heh, Mercie taught me how to make these cookies… _

Felix faces his body towards the girl again, and clenches his fist. He straightens his back, (not) prepared for what he was about to say.

“Annette, I’m-”

_ Just leave her, Felix. _

__ “I am… sorry.”

_ Stop talking. You’ll make things worse. _

__ “I-”

__ _ Felix, I swear, you were not built for this. You were built for sword fighting and combat. Not this emotional crap. _

__ “Lost-”

_ Don’t say another word, you fool. Get up, and walk away right now or else you’ll regret it. _

__ “My-”

_ Last chance. Are you going to run yet? _

__ “Brother…”

_ … _

__ “...” Annette pops her head up again, looking at Felix. Tears were still running on her face, but now her focus was on Felix’s comment. 

“W-what? What did you say?” Annette responds.

“I lost my older brother years ago...”

_ Lost his older brother? Oh, so Mercedes calling him her little brother...  _ Thought Annette, feeling the gears turning in her head.

“To hear Mercedes say that I reminded her of her little brother… you could say it made me ‘upset’.” Felix tried to think back on a time where he had to defend his feelings. This was probably the first time he had to confront a person about why their words offended him, instead of just being mean to them and scaring them away.

“... Felix, I am so sorry-”

“Don’t say that, please. I’m sick of hearing those hollow words-”

“No. I’m sorry for… doubting you.”

“Doubting me?” Suddenly, a strike of crackling thunder tears through the sky. The bright loud  _ boom  _ rips a mark across the dark cloudy autumn day. Then, it starts to rain. The both of them shoot up from their seats.

“Damnit, I wanted to continue talking about this,” says Annette. She looks down to clean the table and packs the rest of the cookies in her bag. Looking down, though, there was nothing but crumbs. She looks up at Felix, confused at the remains of her baked goods.

“I told you, they were really good,” Felix responds, looking away embarrassed, “... and I would like some more.” Annette looks up from cleaning the table, confused.

“W-what?”

“... do you have any more of those cookies at your dorm?”

“Um, yeah. I made a bunch. It’s one of my favorite recipes.”

“Maybe… I could come over and have some more.”

“... what-”

“Annette, do you want to finish this discussion at your place or not?” Each word that came out of his mouth felt like a knife turning in his stomach. The singer finishes cleaning, puts her cloth in her bag, and straightens her back to look at Felix in the eyes. She gives him a reassuring smile.

“I would love that,” says Annette, “but only if you feel comfortable talking about this. I want to make sure you’re ok-”

“Annette, it’s fine. I… feel bad for making you cry. If you still want to talk now, then we can talk. I can at least do that.” Felix physically could not look at Annette while saying this - growing more and more flustered, while Annette’s presence made it difficult for him to be rude as a defence mechanism. He gives a frustrated grunt under his breath, hoping that opening himself up was worth it. The girl in response chuckles softly. She tries to cover her mouth, worried about appearing rude. 

“Ok. Let’s get out of this rain. I don’t know why it came so suddenly, however.”

“Yeah,” replies Felix.

“You would think that rain only comes during sad moments.” The two of them start walking to Annette’s dorm, side by side.

“Are you saying that it’s a shame that I’m talking to you now?” asks Felix.

“... no, not really.” Annette couldn’t help but form a big smile, looking at the boy. Felix immediately looks away, and turns a bright flustered red that he wouldn’t be caught dead wearing.

She remembers how warm and happy Felix made her, all the fun memories she has of them talking and relaxing together. That’s the part that confused Annette the most however. For such a stern and serious guy, Felix oddly made her feel… comfortable. Perhaps it was because he didn’t judge her, or make fun of her musical hobbies. Perhaps it was because it felt like he accepted her, and even enjoyed listening and watching her. But that raises the question Annette has been struggling to find the answers to: why her? Why is it that Annette was the one that Felix was the most kind too - only one kind to, really. Annette hoped to get the answer from him today, while alone with him in her bedroom… uh. Over cookies and tea, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! fyi open to critiques! <3 see y'all soon!

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by Mercedes x Felix's C support and Annette x Felix B support. I love Annette and connect with her so much, and Felix is such a damn well written character. Watching the both of their supports, I felt that a lot of potential for their relationship wasn't explored. I'm not much of a shipper, but I will admit that Annette x Felix is damn cute. I hope to use this fic as a way to further explore their relationship other than just "haha silly singing fun times Felix you a meanie."


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